


Cat In A Box

by The_Exile



Category: Astral Chain (Video Game)
Genre: Cats, Community: ladiesbingo, Jealousy, Multi, Social Anxiety, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 17:00:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20709470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Exile/pseuds/The_Exile
Summary: Adelaid only shares the location of the Safehouse with the closest people to her.





	Cat In A Box

**Author's Note:**

> main character is called Adelaid
> 
> for prompt 25.20 silence

The two of them often just sat there on the couch in silence, facing away from each other and looking at their Iris displays or the paperwork they were doing or playing with the cats or even just staring into space. The cats were quite happy with the humans staying silent and still for longer periods than humans usually did, in fact they preferred it and often joined in. It hadn't taken long for the little colony of rescues to accept the quiet girl's presence and a few of the bolder, more affectionate animals would even sit next to her or, in Walnut's case, on her lap. The cats clearly relaxed her in turn but she was quite happy for them all to sit where they were, most of them asleep while Mia darted around the room like a maniac, chasing an empty aluminium can. 

She'd learned a lot about Sarah since she'd allowed the young woman into her father's safehouse, the secret cat sanctuary that was her and Akira's private retreat. For instance, the rumour going around that whatever injuries kept half of her face in bandages also meant that she couldn't hear a thing in that ear, were nonsense. She'd spotted Yuki trying to sneak up on her from that side of her face so that the cat could paw curiously at her bandages, something they all had a habit of doing. Sarah was perfectly capable of talking, too, and was probably not telepathic. Joey could tell what she wanted without Sarah opening her mouth but then so could Adelaid and her brother. It was possible to just get so used to being with someone that you became able to know their habits, their routine, their smallest body language and what it meant. Akira always joked that a good partner was like a fully synced Legion - then she berated him for treating people somewhere between pets and equipment, which of course made him laugh because he had predicted that's what she would do. It was probably like that for Sarah and Joey.

(She would never admit it in a million years but Adelaid sort of felt jealous of Joey.) 

As for why Sarah barely ever talked, she was fairly sure the woman was just very shy and nervous, possibly even had some sort of social anxiety or autistic spectrum condition (Adelaid didn't want to embarrass herself saying any bullshit about a subject she didn't understand, though - she was a Legionis, not a medic). She seemed like a very socially straightforward person - Adelaid had never seen her be anything other than totally honest, when she actually communicated, which was mostly the simplest way possible through pointing at objects, miming actions. When she'd been asked something she wasn't at liberty to disclose, she'd simply refused to speak or react in any way, even when the situation got dangerous. Adelaid would not have risked sharing the location of the safehouse, which would have put the cats in danger and ruined the only place she could talk to her brother in private, if she didn't also trust Sarah absolutely. 

(That said, she would have to do something about Joey. She hadn't told Sarah's partner about the safehouse but she wasn't sure how good Sarah was at keeping information from Joey. The man seemed pleasant and harmless enough, if a little worryingly obsessed with guns, but he was a relative unknown. Besides, something about him made Adelaid nervous. Maybe she could bribe Marie to find out what Joey knew... Wait, what the hell had gotten into her? Since when did she do office politics?

Hell, maybe she really was jealous of Joey...)


End file.
